A wooden puppet full of tricks and mischief, with a talent for getting into and out of trouble, wants more than anything else to become a real boy Grade 2-4-- If anyone believed that the varied adventures of Pinocchio could be successfully condensed into a picture book, this edition will quickly dispel that notion. Everything that happens to Pinocchio in other versions is included here; events are distilled into one or two sentences, making an already complex story almost impossible to follow. Characters pop in and out at will, and there is no distinction made as to their importance, either to the plot or to Pinocchio. Busy, full-color illustrations--with as many as four frames per page--increase the frenetic pace of the narrative. These garishly colored cartoonlike pictures are filled with details. The evil Showman who hires Pinocchio for his puppet theater is depicted as a threatening, nonhuman creature who could be from another planet. There are at least 20 editions of this ever-popular tale currently in print, ranging from the complete adventures (Unicorn, 1986) to abridged and "easy reader" texts of selected chapters. Libraries fortunate enough to have either The Adventures of Pinocchio (Rand McNally, 1982; o.p.), retold by Neil Morris and illustrated by Frank Baber, or the special Macmillan edition (1969; o.p.), translated by Carol Della Chiesa and illustrated by Attilio Mussino, certainly would have no use for this one. Many other texts do justice to this classic, and are more harmoniously illustrated. --Martha Rosen, Edgewood School, Scarsdale, NY Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.